Scott wins in Malaysia

Christmas presents don’t come much better than the one former Foxton trainer Anna Scott received.

The 36-year-old sister of Matamata trainer Andrew Scott now plies her trade in Malaysia where her stable veteran Iluminado took out the Penang Gold Cup on Christmas Day. A Malaysia Group One race, the event is recognised globally as a Listed event.

Iluminado, a nine-year-old Argentinian-bred gelding, provided Scott with her first trophy race two years earlier when scoring in the Penang TC William Inglis & Son Trophy.

The Christmas day win though was all the sweeter given Iluminado was destined for retirement earlier this year.

‘‘Back in April we were looking for a good home for him as there is only one race a month for stayers and he really needs racing to keep his fitness,’’ Scott said.

After delays locating the perfect forever home, Scott decided to persevere with the horse, leading to a rather unorthodox preparation for the 2000m event.

‘‘He had three 1000m trials, one race over 1700m where he finished ninth, then another two 1000m trials,’’ she said.

Scott ended 2016 with 35 wins and the leading strike rate and is already looking forward to 2017 and an influx of 12 new horses.

However, if Scott’s early career plans had panned out the former Foxton farm girl wouldn’t even be involved in racing.

‘‘I always wanted to be a policewoman, but I couldn’t pass School C English,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m dyslexic and if I hadn’t been so stubborn and used a reader/writer in the exam then I would’ve passed.’’